Fishing reels are often designed for a specific style of fishing or type of fishing line or rod. Fisherman will thus often purchase a number of fishing reels so that the appropriate reel may be used in a given situation.
Additionally, fishing reels are normally detachable from rods, and the rods are often stored in tubes. So even if one reel and one rod are owned, the fisherman may want to remove the reel from the rod when the assembly is not in use so that the rod and reel may be stored separately.
In these and other cases, the fisherman is faced with the problem of storing fishing reels that are not in use.
Fishing reels are fairly delicate devices and often quite expensive. Care must be taken when storing fishing reels to ensure that they are not damaged. And in some cases the fisherman would like to avoid even scratching the finish on a fishing reel for aesthetic purposes or to avoid possible corrosion.
Thus, while it is possible simply to store fishing reels in a tackle box or the like, many fisherman would like to avoid this approach and thereby avoid damaging the reel.